California’s Castro Adobe: how 2,500 handmade mud bricks saved a piece of history

Edna Kimbro’s Twenty-Year Battle for Castro Adobe

In 1988, Edna Kimbro, a top adobe expert, bought the historic Castro Adobe near Watsonville as her dream home. Just one year later, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, badly damaging the 140-year-old building.

Instead of giving up, Edna fought back. She led a push to save the site, working with lawmakers until California took over the property in 2002.

Sadly, Edna died in 2005, but her vision lived on.

Local volunteers then spent 20 years making 2,500 heavy adobe bricks by hand, bringing the site back to life. The Castro Adobe now stands as a testament to what happens when one woman refuses to let history crumble.

A Mexican Family Built This Two-Story Adobe Masterpiece in 1848

Juan José Castro built his two-story adobe home from 1848-1850 on his family’s 8,800-acre Rancho San Andrés land.

He used local workers to build what became the only two-story adobe house in Santa Cruz County. The grand home had California’s first dance floor and one of the area’s first indoor kitchens.

Family stories say Castro paid for it with $30,000 from gold fields. The house quickly became the social hub of the Central Coast, with fancy parties in its upstairs ballroom.

Money Problems Forced the Castros to Give Up Their Grand Home

Like many Mexican landowners, the Castros lost their property in the 1870s through costly lawsuits after California became a state.

Juan José Castro died broke in 1877, ending the Mexican rancho era at the adobe. The once-grand house turned into a regular family home as California changed.

The home went to William Patterson from San Francisco and changed owners many times over the years. The building slowly fell apart as new owners couldn’t properly care for the old structure.

The Woman Who Fell in Love with Old Adobe Buildings

Edna Kimbro got her art history degree from UC Santa Cruz in 1974 and grew to love Spanish and Mexican buildings.

She and her husband Joe bought and fixed up the Branciforte Adobe in Santa Cruz in the 1970s, giving Edna hands-on experience with adobe care.

Kimbro later learned how to protect old adobes from earthquakes in Rome, becoming a top expert in building care.

Through the 1980s, she led the work to fix the Santa Cruz Mission Adobe, which opened as a state park in 1991.

Their Dream House Was a Crumbling Piece of History

In 1988, Edna Kimbro and her husband Joe bought the run-down Castro Adobe near Watsonville to make it their home.

The couple loved the 140-year-old building’s place in history as one of the best examples of rancho style in the Monterey Bay area.

Edna had already made a name for herself as California’s top adobe expert and saw the Castro Adobe as the crown jewel in her work.

The Kimbros moved in, making Edna’s wish come true.

The Ground Shook and Their World Fell Apart

At 5:04 PM on October 17, 1989, the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake badly damaged the Castro Adobe, making it unsafe to live in.

The earthquake hit just miles away, shaking the adobe hard and weakening its structure. The Kimbros had to leave their dream home as workers wrapped the damaged adobe in tarps to stop more harm.

Instead of giving up, Edna started planning to save the historic building for future visitors.

Neighbors Rallied Around the Historic Home

Edna Kimbro started the “Save the Castro” effort, using her know-how to build local support for the adobe’s care.

She worked hard to teach people about the adobe’s value as the last standing Mexican-era rancho house in the Pajaro Valley.

The Kimbros lived in trailers and later built a house next door while fighting to save their damaged dream home.

Edna’s work gained support as locals, history buffs, and neighbors joined in, holding fundraisers throughout the 1990s.

A Politician Helped Turn Their Dream Into Law

Assembly Member Fred Keeley backed a bill for California to buy the Castro Adobe, seeing its importance to state history.

The bill passed in 1999 after years of work by Edna Kimbro and growing community push to save the rare building.

This win showed a turning point for California adobe care, proving that local efforts could work when regular funding didn’t.

The law set up the way for the state to buy and fix the historic property, starting a twenty-year project.

California Bought the Adobe for Nearly a Million Dollars

California State Parks bought the Castro Adobe and one acre from the Kimbros for $950,000 in 2002.

The purchase started a 20-year community-led fix-up effort unlike any other state park project. Edna Kimbro finished a detailed report for the work in 2005, giving specific plans for the job ahead.

Just months after finishing her life’s work on the adobe, Edna died of cancer at age 57 on June 26, 2005, the day after her birthday, never seeing her dream fully come true.

Volunteers Worked With Park Rangers to Save the Adobe

Two years after Edna Kimbro died, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks kept up her work with California State Parks.

In July 2007, over 150 volunteers gathered to make 2,500 adobe bricks by hand, each weighing 85 pounds, to fix the earthquake-damaged walls.

The brick-making turned into a community event, with neighbors helping water the drying bricks daily. Only 14% of the handmade bricks broke during the process.

This group effort created the team model that guided the work for the next 15 years.

Engineers Found Ways to Earthquake-Proof a 150-Year-Old Building

Restoration work included innovative seismic retrofitting with a carefully threaded steel beam to support the second floor while keeping the historic appearance.

Volunteers restored the rare historic cocina (kitchen) with its original brasero, creating one of only four remaining Mexican-era kitchens in California.

The project added a lift for universal access, electrical and fire suppression systems, and carefully recreated period furnishings.

Archaeological work uncovered artifacts from generations of families who lived in the adobe, from ceramic pieces to children’s toys.

The Castro Adobe Finally Opened Its Doors to the Public

The Castro Adobe restoration finished after 20 years, with the building opening for monthly tours starting in 2015.

The restored adobe now features interactive exhibits, multimedia displays, and hands-on experiences like tortilla-making demonstrations in the historic kitchen.

Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks received the 2023 California Preservation Foundation Award for Restoration, recognizing the project’s outstanding achievement.

The Castro Adobe became California’s newest State Historic Park, fulfilling Edna Kimbro’s dream of saving this irreplaceable piece of California heritage for future generations.

Visiting Castro Adobe, California

You can visit Castro Adobe at 184 Old Adobe Road in Watsonville during monthly open house events. Make advance reservations at SantaCruzStateParks.as. me/CastroAdobeOpenHouse for free admission.

Docent-led tours run every 15 minutes from 10:30am to 2:15pm and last 90 minutes. You’ll see the historic Mexican-era kitchen with original redwood shelves, one of only four left in California.

The adjacent Kimbro House contains Edna Kimbro’s archive, available to researchers by appointment.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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